Method oe and machine eor manufacturing spiral metal tubes



Feb. 15, 1927. 1,617,583 .1. FENTRESS ET AL METHOD OF AND MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING SPIRAL METAL TUBES ll May 5, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1,617,583 1927' J. FENTRESS E METHOD OF AND MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING SPIRAL METAL TUBES Filed May 5, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 15, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES FENTRESS, OF WINNETKA, AND ANDREW W. JUNKUNC, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

ASSIGNORS TO CHICAGO TUBING AND BBAIDING 00., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A

CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

METHOD 015 AND MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING SPIRAL METAL TUBES.

Application filed May 3, 1926. Serial No. 106,295.

This invention relates to a method of and machinery for making spiral helices, more specifically springs or metal tubing of the conventional types now in use for conducting various gases and liquids or for conduits for wires, etc.

There are now on the market and in commercial use several styles of machines in which the steel strip entering into the construction of the tube or spring is passed to a tube or spring forming tool and onto a rotating mandrel with the resulting production of a finished tube or sprin rotating with the mandrel so long as the finished tube or spring remains attached to the tube or spring making machine, i. e., until a finished section of the tube or spring is severed from the tube or spring being produced by the machine.

Owing to the fact that the finished tube thus projecting from the machine continues to rotate as long as it is in operative connection with the machine, the length of tube which such a machine can produce is necessariiy limited:

(a) By the power required finished tube; and

(b) By the friction of the rotating finished tube either on the mandrel which it encloses or the trough in which it lies, the result being that in actual commercial practice, 100 feet is about the maximum length of producible finished tube.

The objects of this invention are to produce a method and machine by which the finished product does not rotate as it leaves the tube or spring forming tool, with the result that a commercial tube or spring of any desired length may be produced by the machine; in which the power required to operate the machine is materially reduced; in which the speed of the machine may be greatly increased; and in which the factory space occupied by the long troughs, commonly used with prior machines to hold the rotating finished product, is saved.

The invention consists in a method and machine capable of attaining the foregoing and other objects; which can be easily and cheaply made; which is satisfactory in use and not readily liable to get out of order. More particularly the invention consists in numerous features and details of Constructo rotate the tion which will be hereafter more fully set forth in the specification and claims.

Referring to the drawings in which like numerals represent the same parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation largely in section of a machine illustrating this invention in its preferred form;

Fig. 2 is a plan view, certain parts being shown in section, of the mechanism of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation taken on the irregular line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an end elevation taken on the line 44 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged side, and Fig. 6 an enlarged plan view taken at approximately the machines center, intersected by line 4l-4 of Fig. 1, showing the details of the construction and operation of the tube forming tool; and

Fig. 7 is an alternative construction, lefthand end view of the machine showing a gear arrangement to make shaft 24 and spindle 42 turn in opposite directions.

The preferred form of machine illustrated in the drawings is sustained in suitable upright supports 10 and 12, spaced, as shown, some little distance apart. Suitably journaled in these supports is a main horizontal drive shaft 14 carrying at its outer end a power transmitting mechanism, specifically a pulley 16, energized by a belt 18 of conventional form, driven by a source of power not shown. Rigidly secured to this main drive shaft are two conventional gears 18 and 20.

Intermeshing with the gear 20 is gear 22 rigidly secured upon the end of a comparatively large shaft 24 journaled at its rear or left-hand end, as viewed in Fig. 1, in upright sup ort 12. The opposite end of shaft 24 is rigic ly secured in a hollow collar hearing 26 journaled on a suitable packing ring 28 on the extreme right-hand end (hf upright support 10, as clearly seen in Fig. 1. The extreme right-hand end of shaft 24 terminates in a cone 30. Immediately adjacent to the base of this cone in collar bearing 26 is an opening 32 for the free passage of tube strip 34. concentrically enclosing shaft 24; and projecting to the left from collar hearing 26 and rigidly secured to upright 10 is a tubular case member 36, adapted to receive and protect the immediate supply 34 of meshing withand driven bygea r 18; The

sets of gears 1844 and 20-22 in Figs. 1, 2

and 3 are so proportioned that'spindle 42' rotates faster than shaft 24: but in the same angular direction; Experiments, however,

show that-better results are obtained by placing between gears an interme diate geart'i' (Fig; 7); seas torotate man drel 42 in the direction oppositeto the rotating ofsllaft 24f and wiping tool 38. Theiorward or ri'glithand end 4 6* of spindle 42-extends a substantial distance to the right of thge'en'd'of cone30 and inside of finished tube eOtO a point beyond thegri'p'of pressure wheels 18. 7

Each pressure wheel 48 is rotatively mounted upon levers 50 suitably pivoted to upright support 1O. These levers 50 are connectar by a retia'ctile spri'ng'52 which forces the pressure wheels 18 onto the finished tube 4:0 with suflicient tension to prev'ent'its rotation about'its own axis:

Gear 20 on main" drive shaft 14' meshes with and drives a gear 551 rigid on a shaft 56 carryinga beveled gear 58 whichin'turn niesh'eswith 'anotlierbevel'ge'ar 60. Bevel gear 58 drives "a'spur. gear 62 integral with which is a forming wheel 648. Gear 62 meshes with an -adjacent spur gear 66 carryingopposite forming wheels 68' cooperating with to imingwhe'eltli;

lligidly secured to upright 12 by any suit ableunea'ns, as,' for instance, screw 70, is aconientional tube strip deflecting tool or die- 'T2," partially encircling shaft or drum 24, the sa'inebeing adaptedto give tube strip 3%, fed tliroti'ghit by forming'wheels (54F and 68; the spifja'lfornrshown' in-Figs; 1 and 2-a'bout shaft 2 l and inside of case 36, witli the result that such a spiral of tube strip ill'ed into ast-ac is carried by shaft 24 and thus fefd' along to the right in case 36' until it reaches and emerges from opening 82 in 1-0 tatablecoll'ar b earing 26;

A Wheti the end of tube strip 3 1 tliiisernerges from openingflflit is'bent by the'operator through the reverse curve or zero point 745 and after being;- pa'ssed under tool 38; held by the operator mammary position inletto the riglit ihand end of spindle24c; I y 1 applied to" wheel 16 causes tool 38Tto wipe over successive portionsflo f tube 34: continuously delivered through 32 rr-om umism-raioft ease-3'6 and strip 3 t'into the finished T I right end *of spindle tfi A's seat as saificiaifi finished tube to seen formed to reach and be engaged by pressure u heelseLS, the tube is "rigidly held by those wheels against-rotation and requires no further attention from the operator. As the tube is thus formed, it may, sofar as the machine concerned; be extended indefinitely, as without rotation, it collected in drums this because, as explained in the o-p'eningsstatemeut; there is no" rotation of the finished tube 40.

The drawingsshow finished tube at) is of a smaller diameter than the supply coil 3% of tube material er withirr'case There is, howeveijnot-hing inthe principle otthedevice to prevent the machine being initially constructedof such a size that the finished tube will be the same size asthe diameter of the supply material passing through case 36'. lVh'en this occurs; there is theoretically no limitation whatever to th'elengtlr ct -tube which maybe made by th'ismachine without stopping it. In practice, however, with the diameter'sof the parts 24 and l2 asshown, less tube strip 341s consumed in the finish'edTtubeedat eaclrrevolutio'n of shaft 24 than is fed into case36" thiringthe same revolution. The result of this is that tube material accumulatesin case 36,-"the pitch of the spiralofthetube" strip in the case being less and less until the case 36 becomes filled up, at which point it is necessary to severthe tube" stripndjacent to the delivery end of forming tool 7'2and allow the accumulated tube'strip in case 36 to be eonsu'medin tube 40' before additional material is again fed int'ocas'e 36 and'about shatt'24c.

Another way of operating the machine is to fill case 36 Witha cartridge-oi? tube strip material closely compacted alongshaft 24h before connecting the'endof such'tube strip material in operative position with" refer enee't'ospindle {l2 and forming. tool 38 and then operate the machine without adding additional material to the originalsupply of material until all of the material contained'indihe cartridge has beenfo'rmed into a tube: The cartridge of tube material may be tamed on a m achine shown in-the draw feedihg it in in. the manner shown between thefeed rolls 68 and 6e, stopping the" teeding in of such material when the cartridge is completely formed within case 36 and thereafter startingthe feeding of the material from the cartridge to the forming tool 38, ortlie machine may be so modified as-tocntirelyomit, indirect connection with the machine, the feeding devices 64-68 and associated ntrts, and simply provide means for introducing previously prepared cartridges of material into case 36, one such cartridge being used for each length of tube which is to beunade.

bio matter whether lar'ge spirals 3-1 are right or: left-hand wiping-the strip 3% onto hand way, will produce a left-hand spiral; wiping strip 8i onto mandrehleft-handed, regardless of strip 345% spirahty will produce a right-hand spiral.

Attention is called to the fact that in the particular machine shown and described, the tube strip 3a in passing through the Zero point Tat changes from a right-haml spiral winding to a left-hand spiral winding, or Vice versa. While this is desirable. it is not a limiting feature of the invention for the strip material 34: may be so laid upon the spindle 2st that the resulting tube will be of the same angularity as the portion of such material within case 36 without departing from the broad principle of this invention, viz: the production of a tube product, non-rotating on its axis as it leaves the machine.

The spindle 42 is made rotatable within the finished tube it) merely to prevent the tubes binding. one convolution on the next.

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intermediate between the tool 38 and the gripping point of the wheels l8.

One advantage of the machine of this inrention, not heretofore mentioned, lies in the fact that the finished tube, being nonrotating, is not opened by the drag of the rotating length of finished tube, frictionally engaging the trough or the like in which it moves, as is the case with prior devices.

Forming tool 38 is a conventional form of die or tube forming member which causes the tube strip to assume the square locked form required in making the finished tube, all as well understood in the tube making art.

The machine is applicable to making of interlocking tubing, semiiuterlocked and square locked tubing, as well as the making of springs of almost any shape or design.

Attention is called to the fact that in mak ing one complete turn of finished tube -10, the supply strip 3% has to make more than a complete revolution on shaft 2-l-this to cause the circumferential length of one turn of tube 4.0 has been taken otl, in a rotational manner, the end of strip 3% and consumed in tube 40, and that the pitch of the sup ply strip 34: is, in a given tube making operation, of one pitch only; that is to say, right-hand or left-hand, as the case may be but never both.

Generically speakii'ig. the finished tube 41) is a multiplicity of helices. By providing the supply helix H" in a coil of a single di ameter and on the same axis as the linishei'l tube, a much higher speed of operation can be obtained than in rior machines and this with increased safety to the attendants.

Two or more supply strips 34 parallel to each other and laid into tube 40 in parrallel coils may be used without departing from the invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine. for making spiral helices, in combination, means non-rotatively holding finished helices while permitting movement of the helices therethrough, and means adjacent said holding means for continuously making the helices.

2. The herein described method of making spiral helices consisting in providing a source of supply spirally wound in one direction, passing it through a zero point to a helix spirally wound in the opposite direction, and winding the strip into the heliczl formation without rotating the finished helices.

3. The herein described method of making a spiral metal tube, consisting in providing a source of tube strip in one sort of spiral winding, passing it through a zero point to a tube of another sort of spiral winding, and winding the strip into the tube formation without rotating the tube.

4. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a rotatable shaft carrying a quantity of spirally wound tube strip, an alined support for finished tube including means permitting feeding of finished tube but preventing its rotation, means conduct- .ing strip material from said shaft toward the tube supporting device, a wiping tool rotatable with reference to the shaft for laying the strip material into a tube, a spindle entering the finished tube, and a source of power rotating said shaft and said spindle.

5. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a rotatable shaft carrying a quantity of spirally wound tube strip, an alined support for finished tube including means permitting feeding of finished tube but preventing its rotation, means conducting strip material from said shaft toward the tube supporting device, a wiping tool rotatable with reference to the shaft, for laying the strip material into a tube, a spindle entering the finished tube, and a source of power rotating said shaft and said spindle at different rates of speed.

6. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a rotatable shaft carrying a quantity of spirally wound tube strip, an alined support for finished tube including means permitting feeding of finished tube butpreveuting its rotation, means conducting strip material from said shaft toward the tube supporting device, a wiping tool rotatable with reference to the shaft. for laying the strip material into a tube, a spin.- dle entering the finished tube, a source of power rotating said shaft and said spindle,

and means constantly replenishing said spirally wound tube strip on the spindle.

7. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a rotatable shaft carrying a quantity of spirally wound tube strip, an

alined support for finished tube 1 includingmeans permitting feeding :of finished. tube but prevent-mg rtsrotatmn, means conducting. strip material from said shaft toward. .the. tube supporting dBVlCQ, a. wiping tool rotatable with reference to the. shaft. for laying the strip material into a-tube, a spindle entering the finished tube, a source ofpower rotating said. shaft and said spindle, and

10 (means. constantly. replenishing saidspirally wound tube strip on the spindle operated by. thev same-source ofpower.

8. In a machine of the class described in combination, a rotatable, shaft carrying a rotating saidshaft and said spindle.

9. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a rotatable shaft carrying a quantity of spirally wound tube strip of substantially one-diameter, an alined support for finished tube including means per mitting feeding of finished tube but preventing its rotation, means conducting strip material from said shaft toward the tube supporting device, a wiping tool rotatable with reference to the shaft for laying the strip material intoa tube, a spindle entering the finished tube, and a source-of power-rotating; said shaft and said: spindle in such quantity of' spirally wound tube strip of newness tated. moreithan. one, revolution in making one finished tube: helix.

10. In a machine. of the character described, means for forming a strip of material into spiral helices, and yieldable means forgripping the formed helices and holding them againstrotation, said means permit tingmovement of the formed helices axially thcret-hrough.

11. In a machine of the character described, meansfor forming a strip of material into spiral helices, a pair of rollers between which the formed helices are adapted to pass, and means whereby said rollers holdthe formed helices against rotation.

12. In a machine of the character described, .means for forming a strip of ma tcrial into spiral helices, a pair of rollers between which the formed helices are adapted to pass, and yieldable means urging said rollers towards one another to hold the formed helices against rotation.

13. In a machine of the character described, a rotatable shaft on which a strip of material is adapted to be spirally wound, a flange carried by said. shaft having an opening therein through which the strip is adapted to be taken off of said shaft, a second shaft. axially alined with said first shaft, and means for winding the material taken olf of said. first shaft through the opening in said flange onto said second shaft;

In. witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.

JAMES FENTRESS. ANDRE-IV IV. JUNKUNC. 

